Sermon Series: “Jesus Christ Is Your Medicine (Cure) For Depression!”
April 30, 2023
Part 2: “The Greatest Invitation Given to Mankind is to Come and Receive the Yoke of Jesus Christ!”
One of the greatest joys I have in life is when I walk in hospice settings, hospitals, funeral homes, and grave sights; I can rejoice forever more knowing that I have the Anointing of Christ to comfort the Lord’s clients—all who mourn! (Isa 61:1-11) To dispense to “All” persons beauty, the oil of gladness and garment of praise in their day of adversity! To give them double for their shame and everlasting joy in their land. All because I decided to put on the Yoke of Jesus Christ.
Introduction:
Good Morning and praise the Lord to the beloved of God, the Saints of the Most High God. In Part 1 of this Sermon Series, (dated April 9, 2023) we provided witness that “Jesus Christ is Your Medicine (Cure) for Depression,” for Jesus bore all of our griefs and sorrows on the cross at Calvary. (Isa.53:4-6) In fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus exclaimed He was “sorrowful unto death.” Jesus having in His humanity the realization of the impending separation from God, bearing the sins of the world on the cross, the betrayal of Judas and the disciples abandoning Him; brought about the experience of every lunacy in His soul and physical body—even beyond our own ability to comprehend and endure—He sweat as it appeared to be great drops of blood that fell to the ground. (Luke 22:43-44) Yes, Jesus agonized in the Garden so we would not have to be tortured with mental illness. (Matt. 26:6-45) I mention also again that Jesus bore the crown of thorns platted in his scalp by the garrison of Roman soldiers and was mocked, in part so that we might have a sound mind. (Matt. 27:29, I Tim. 1:7, & I Cor. 2:16)
So by faith in the finish works of Jesus Christ, we receive deliverance and freedom from all mental disorders, including the number one mental disorder in the world today, depression! Come on and say with me by faith: “I will never suffer from depression stemming from Bad News again, nor any other mental disorder that the enemy, Satan, tries to throw my way!” Instead, I have the Good News—that with Jesus’ Stripes We Were Healed! (I Pet. 2:24)
Moreover, we reject and condemn all disease and illness no matter its origin, medically specified or unspecified. (Isa. 54:17) Jesus came that we might have life, and life to the full until it overflows. (John 10:10) This is the truth, and we will accept nothing less from this life. God is our life and the length of our days. (Deut. 30:20) Praise God, in Christ Jesus there are no more dark and down days! Rejoice, I say, rejoice forever more in the Lord, the Scripture concludes! (Php.4:4)
Before you leave here today, you are going to learn how to think like Jesus Christ, and take on his persona/character and live above depression! Praise God, in times of tribulation and great distress, because you have taken the “Yoke of Jesus Christ,” people are going to marvel at your peace, and you will calm the stormy seas of others, so God may be glorified through you in the earth! Get ready for the greatest offer Mankind has ever been given—“The Yoke of Christ!!!”
Receive Now the Persona of Christ and Live Free of Heavy Burdens
To every person on planet earth, Jesus Christ extends the offer to take hold of “His Yoke.” Let’s examine Matthew 11:28-30. It reads as follows:
The Lord said:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
In this life we all have labored and been besieged by heavy burdens, afflictions, sorrows and sadness that stem from “Bad News” authored by Satan. But, Jesus promises that everyone who comes to Him will receive rest. The Amplified Bible describes the Lord’s rest as “ease” and “relief and refreshing of the soul.” Wow, what a Comforter Jesus Christ is for the problems all men face in the earth! And, all a man has to do is come to Jesus and yield to Him and receive rest for his weary and broken soul.
For born-again Christians, when we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, our spirits and souls were made perfect in Christ. (Heb.10:14, I Cor. 2:16, & II Tim.1:7) This is the first step in receiving the Yoke of Christ, through grace and faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Eph.2:8)
Thereafter, as we walk the Christian life and experience the troubles of the world with its heavy burdens, our thought-life (brains) are subjected to affliction and unrest.
Thus, we are commanded to take and put on Jesus’ personal “Yoke,” and to learn of Him. Jesus says that His Yoke is easy and burdens are light. Jesus says that when we take hold of His yoke, we will find rest. The Amplified Bible says you will “find relief and ease, and refreshment, and recreation and blessed quiet for the soul” (our thought-life brains). MY, My, my, so when trouble comes to attack you, trouble will find you at rest—at ease, refreshed, in leisure and in blessed quietness! Oh, how we need the Lord’s Yoke at all times? If we are found in rest at all times, there is no place for depression and other mental disorders to dwell in our thought life (brains).
So Praise God, we want to know what the “Yoke of Christ” is, and then apply our hearts to study and learn of Him. The Yoke of Christ is the person of Jesus—His persona/character. Jesus straightway tells us all about His Yoke in Matthew 11:29—never forget this! Jesus said,
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Jesus Christ Yoke is: He is meek and lowly in heart (spirit). Meaning Jesus is humble unto God and obedient only to the Commandments of God. Jesus wants you to take on His persona/character and become meek and lowly of heart in your daily living! Jesus, through the Holy Ghost, wants to teach, train, and test (prove) you in living a life of meekness and lowliness of heart unto God. The meekness and lowliness of Jesus Christ has been placed in our born-again hearts and we should walk accordingly. (Gal. 5:22-23, 25 & Heb.10:16-17) Jesus wants to train your brain in living life only by hearing and doing the will of God the Father from your heart.
We are the sons of God and therefore are to be led by the Spirit of God. (Rom. 8:14) Jesus is saying when we wear His Yoke, we can only go in the direction in which God wills, and not our own. Just as a farmer places a yoke around the oxen and guides the oxen in the way he wills—so are we also to be guided by the Yoke of Christ in “all things” God. Bearing the Yoke of Christ will find you obeying God in churching, praying, singing, fasting, worshipping, loving, forgiving, forgetting, encouraging, parenting, giving, outreaching as the Lord has Commanded and more.
I would venture to say that most Christians have not committed their thought-life to the Yoke of Christ. So many Christians are serving the God of Mammon, consumed with the cares of life: What they will eat and drink, where they will sleep, what they will wear, how they will pay their bills, what people think and say about them, how people treat them, how and when they will die, on and on and on and on.
In fact, I ask you, have you come to Jesus and received His Yoke? Are you wearing the Yoke of Christ, or the cares of this world around your neck? Are you consumed with what you want, what you need, and what you desire? Have you ever come to Jesus with the earnest intent to receive His permanent rest? I’m telling you that Jesus Christ is calling us today to put on His Yoke and receive rest with burdens that are light never harsh, wholesome, useful and good.
I have been pastoring for almost 24-years and most of the time I hear born-again Christians lamenting about what they don’t have and what they can’t get. But, in my counseling sessions I try to get them to put Christ’s Yoke on. I minister Passages of Scripture like Isaiah 55:1-3, which reads:
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Or sometimes I am led to take them to the New Testament and ask the born-again Christian if they remember or have ever read Philippians 4:19:
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
(The Yoke of Jesus)
Or I take the believer in Christ directly to the words of Jesus Christ at Matthew 6:24-34.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Oh, can you read the Spiritual Room? Can you see from these Scriptures that God in Christ Jesus wants us to focus and become consumed with Him only? Jesus is sending you signals with bright flashing lights and sirens blazing; saying that if you will come and hangout with Him, everything from heaven and the kingdom of God will be supplied to you. If you will only trust and obey the Word of God to do as the Spirit of God says do—God will exceedingly and abundantly meet your needs. (Jos.1: 1-8 & Prov. 3:5-8) If you will wear the Yoke of Christ, you will not have any earthly wants. (Ps.23:1) If you will take off the yoke of sadness, grief, and sorrow and worry, and glum—and instead, take your hands and put on the Lord’s Yoke and wear it as a mantle of grace, God will lead you by still waters, in the midst of hurricane force winds!
When you lack nothing in life, it makes you free to always focus and learn and train in God’s Agenda. The disciples of Jesus Christ walked with the Lord and preached the kingdom of God everywhere for three-and half years, and lacked no material good. (Luke 22:35) God will keep him in “Perfect Peace” whose mind is stayed on Him. (Isa. 26:3)
Let’s close this Sermon Series and Message now, by receiving the Yoke of Christ, and resolving every day to learn more and excel in our performance at being meek, humble, and lowly in heart unto God our Father. By “Now God Faith,” let us come to Jesus Christ and take His Yoke and receive permanent rest for our souls (thoughts of the human brain). Come on and say with me, “Lord Jesus, I thank you that I have taken possession (ownership) of your Yoke, for I like you, are meek and lowly in heart—ever doing only as God has Commanded. I thank you Lord that among the fruit of the spirit you have deposited in my spirit are gentleness, meekness, and temperance. I thank you Lord that have rest, recreation, blessed quietness, freshness, and comfort in my thought life at all times. Regardless of the BAD NEWS in this world, I am free from the cares of this world.
Lord I thank you that my burdens are light, just as Jesus’s burdens are light, and that your Commandments, are not grievous, but ever wholesome, useful, good, gracious, and pleasant. The Yoke of Christ helps turn my attention to only serving and pleasing you Oh God. Jesus’ Yoke turns me away from sin, iniquity, and transgression—and then turns me into the path of righteousness. Jesus’ Yoke turns on the Anointing of Christ and leads me into the streets of the cities to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for the saving of souls—with signs, miracles, special miracles and wonders, and jubilee for the people to behold. Because I wear the Yoke of Jesus, I love every person, including those who consider themselves to be my enemy. And I am assured, therefore, as I walk humbly before you God my Father—walk in your love Commands—that whatsoever I ask of you, I receive because I keep your Commandments! (John 14:12-14).
Oh Lord, I only desire to learn of Jesus Christ, forever to go deeper in the knowledge, understanding, and comprehension of His Yoke, so that I might have and enjoy Oneness with God forever—God in me and Me in God. Lord, let it be that when men look upon my face, they see Jesus Christ shining through comforting and calling them to salvation. Amen to the glory of God!
If you love the persona/character of Jesus Christ, this Scripture is yours to the full and overflow:
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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